Ordered mesoporous silica materials were firstly developed in 1992 by the Mobil Oil Company. Since that date the range of these materials grew bigger and bigger, From small (2 – 3 nm) ordered hexagonal and cubical pore systems up to 10 and even 30 nm ordered pore structures. They are called MCM[1] (Mobil Composition of Matter), SBA[2] (University of Santa Barbara) or PMO[3] (Periodic Mesoporous Organosilica) materials.
Due to their high surface areas (between 700 and 1600 m²/g), larger pore volumes (0.7 – 1.2 ml/g) and the ordering of the pores (hexagonal or cubic), they are applicable in a wide range of areas. Their high porosity will lead to backpressure reduction making the use of very small particles possible without the need for ultra high pressure systems.
PMO materials have an additional advantage when compared to pure silica. Apart from their large surface area, they possess an organic group between two silicon atoms. The addition of an ethane bridge there reduces the amount of silioxane bridges hence reducing their vulnerability to hydrolysis. This way these columns should have far greater life-time expectancy.
For ideal packing, uniform spheres were necessary. This was achieved by the continuous spray drying of a precursor mixture. By thoroughly controlling the spraying conditions via an experimental design setup, we achieved mesoporous MCM-41 (hexagonal pores) particles with a narrow particle size, a surface area of 1580 m²/g and a pore volume of 0.98 ml/g.
To prepare these materials for reversed phase chromatography, they were treated with a C-18 silane in a grafting procedure.[4] The chromatographic performance of these materials is currently evaluated.
[1] Kresge, C.T.; Leonowicz, M.E.; Roth, W.J.; Vartuli, J.C.; Beck, J.S. Nature 1992, 359, 710-712. [2] Zhao, D.Y.; Feng, J.L.; Huo, Q.S.; Melosh, N.; Frederickson, G.H.; Chmelka, B.F.; Stucky, G.D. Science 1998, 279, 548-552. [3] Inagaki, S.; Guan, S.; Ohsuma, T.; Terasaki, O. Nature 2002, 416, 304-307.[4] Blitz, J.P.; Shreedhara, R.S.; Leyden, D.E. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 1988, 126, 387-392.

@inproceedings{727146,
abstract = {Ordered mesoporous silica materials were firstly developed in 1992 by the Mobil Oil Company. Since that date the range of these materials grew bigger and bigger, From small (2 -- 3 nm) ordered hexagonal and cubical pore systems up to 10 and even 30 nm ordered pore structures. They are called MCM[1] (Mobil Composition of Matter), SBA[2] (University of Santa Barbara) or PMO[3] (Periodic Mesoporous Organosilica) materials.
Due to their high surface areas (between 700 and 1600 m{\texttwosuperior}/g), larger pore volumes (0.7 -- 1.2 ml/g) and the ordering of the pores (hexagonal or cubic), they are applicable in a wide range of areas. Their high porosity will lead to backpressure reduction making the use of very small particles possible without the need for ultra high pressure systems.
PMO materials have an additional advantage when compared to pure silica. Apart from their large surface area, they possess an organic group between two silicon atoms. The addition of an ethane bridge there reduces the amount of silioxane bridges hence reducing their vulnerability to hydrolysis. This way these columns should have far greater life-time expectancy.
For ideal packing, uniform spheres were necessary. This was achieved by the continuous spray drying of a precursor mixture. By thoroughly controlling the spraying conditions via an experimental design setup, we achieved mesoporous MCM-41 (hexagonal pores) particles with a narrow particle size, a surface area of 1580 m{\texttwosuperior}/g and a pore volume of 0.98 ml/g.
To prepare these materials for reversed phase chromatography, they were treated with a C-18 silane in a grafting procedure.[4] The chromatographic performance of these materials is currently evaluated.
[1] Kresge, C.T.; Leonowicz, M.E.; Roth, W.J.; Vartuli, J.C.; Beck, J.S. Nature 1992, 359, 710-712. [2] Zhao, D.Y.; Feng, J.L.; Huo, Q.S.; Melosh, N.; Frederickson, G.H.; Chmelka, B.F.; Stucky, G.D. Science 1998, 279, 548-552. [3] Inagaki, S.; Guan, S.; Ohsuma, T.; Terasaki, O. Nature 2002, 416, 304-307.[4] Blitz, J.P.; Shreedhara, R.S.; Leyden, D.E. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 1988, 126, 387-392.},
author = {Ide, Matthias and Lynen, Frederic and Sandra, Patrick and Van Der Voort, Pascal},
booktitle = {High Performance Liquid Phase Separations and Related Techniques, 34th International symposium, Abstracts},
language = {eng},
location = {Dresden, Germany},
pages = {231--231},
title = {Developing a new mesoporous silica packing material for liquid based separation techniques},
year = {2009},
}